Among the conventionally-known snow removal machines are the auger-type snow removal machines which include an auger housing mounted on a vehicle body frame, having travel units mounted thereon, in such a manner that it is movable up and down and rollable side to side relative to the vehicle body frame. The auger housing houses an auger located at the front of the snow removal machine, so that the snow removal machine can gather snow by means the auger and blow the gathered snow far away through a shooter by means of a blower while traveling forward.
Generally, the auger-equipped snow removal machines are constructed to allow a height of the auger housing to be changed in accordance with conditions of snow removal work. The snow removal machine can travel more efficiently if the underside of the auger housing is positioned higher, but the snow removal machine snow can remove snow more efficiently if the underside of the auger housing is positioned lower. Additionally, during the snow removal work, the height of the auger housing is often changed or adjusted in accordance with irregularities (concavities and convexities) of road surfaces. However, if the height of the auger housing is adjusted by a human operator inputting appropriate heights through a control panel or the like, loads on the human operator tend to increase. In order to reduce such human operator's loads, there have been proposed snow removal machines constructed to lift and lower the housing and hence the lower surface of the auger housing through automatic force, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open Publication No. SHO-63-136012 (hereinafter referred to as “Patent Literature 1”) and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2007-32218 (hereinafter referred to as “Patent Literature 2”).
In the snow removal machine disclosed in Patent Literature 1, an inclination of the auger housing is detected by an inclination detection device provided on the auger housing so as to control a rolling angle of the auger housing. In the snow removal machine disclosed in Patent Literature 2, a height position, in a lifting/lowering direction, of the auger housing is detected by a height position sensor and an inclined position of the auger housing is detected by a roll position sensor so as to control a lifting/lowering angle and a rolling angle of the auger housing.
However, during the snow removal work, vibrations and impacts occurring in the auger and the blower may undesirably transmit from the auger housing to the detection sections. Thus, further improvements have to be made to accurately detect an inclination angle of the auger housing and increase durability of the detection sections.